Why make kids read Shakespeare?

[Kimbell175113]

I'm 99% certain that JuntMonkey wasn't badmouthing King there.

[hmkpoker]

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Settle a bet for me, if you don't mind: have you been a student at college/university within the last four years?

(The bet stems from your true-to-life Essay #1 example - the political (-ly correct) overtones ring nauseatingly familiar. Well, except that the vikings in the sketch were white men, of course.)

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Within the last two, actually. I graduated from Rutgers in May 2005.

[jogger08152]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Settle a bet for me, if you don't mind: have you been a student at college/university within the last four years?

(The bet stems from your true-to-life Essay #1 example - the political (-ly correct) overtones ring nauseatingly familiar. Well, except that the vikings in the sketch were white men, of course.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Within the last two, actually. I graduated from Rutgers in May 2005.

[/ QUOTE ]
I won. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Sephus]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Settle a bet for me, if you don't mind: have you been a student at college/university within the last four years?

(The bet stems from your true-to-life Essay #1 example - the political (-ly correct) overtones ring nauseatingly familiar. Well, except that the vikings in the sketch were white men, of course.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Within the last two, actually. I graduated from Rutgers in May 2005.

[/ QUOTE ]
I won. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

good luck getting yourself to pay up.

[m_the0ry]

I agree it's a complete waste of time. The model for teaching english was obliterated by grade inflation and ease of attainability with regards to 'english degrees'.

High school and middle school composition teach one thing and one thing only: how to write without communicating. Communication is the crux of effective and impactive writing, and yet if you read most student's work it is nothing more than a regurgitation of what the grader wants to hear and a needless expansion on rhetoric techniques that have absolutely no effect on communication and no relevance to the real world.

I went through high school being incredibly insulted and angered by the 'english' system. In the process of getting my engineering degree I took courses on technical writing. The classes delved into the concepts of audience analysis, organizational skills, proper form and syntax, with a lesser emphasis on how to effectively use tone and style to tailor to the needs of your audience. These are skills that help someone communicate. These are skills that help everyone in their job. These are skills that are applicable.


Memorizing Shakespeare's plot themes, pedantic vocabulary, and dramatic situations are not only absolutely worthless in application but OBSTRUCT communication.

[jogger08152]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Settle a bet for me, if you don't mind: have you been a student at college/university within the last four years?

(The bet stems from your true-to-life Essay #1 example - the political (-ly correct) overtones ring nauseatingly familiar. Well, except that the vikings in the sketch were white men, of course.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Within the last two, actually. I graduated from Rutgers in May 2005.

[/ QUOTE ]
I won. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

good luck getting yourself to pay up.

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Good read, sir.

[AlexM]

Teachers hate Shakespeare, so they want students to read it so they'll hate it too. Forcing someone to read something in school, rather than letting them read it on their own, is the best way to make them hate a good piece of literature.